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<title>Love Like Winter by Rìgh_Marbh (Righ_Marbh)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25470751">Love Like Winter</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Righ_Marbh/pseuds/R%C3%ACgh_Marbh'>Rìgh_Marbh (Righ_Marbh)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Last Kingdom (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:33:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,305</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25470751</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Righ_Marbh/pseuds/R%C3%ACgh_Marbh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Another fill for TLK Fanfic Fest Round 1 with Prompt 7: "Sihtric rescues the reader from drowning" AND Prompt 1: "Finan shares his cloak with the reader at the fire to keep them both warm. His hands wander occasionally."</p><p>Because I am horrible little polyamorous cretin and I’ll die before you make me choose.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Finan/Sihtric (The Last Kingdom)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Last Kingdom Fanfic Fest</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love Like Winter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>And so the cross-posting continues. This was also my first ever Reader fic and I don't entirely hate it so far so I'm taing that as a win!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p>It had been an accident. You knew the river better than you knew yourself and the ice had been solid. You’d taken a long branch to steady yourself and to probe the ice as you crossed and you’d taken soft, careful steps.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Of course, you could have kept going further upstream and crossed at the bridge but that would have taken you another half day out of your way and you were just desperate to be home after leaving your youngest brother on the road that would lead him to Winchester.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>Home.</em> How strange to think that home was exactly what Coccham had become. You had come south some three years ago now when Lord Uhtred had married the Lady Gisela and they had needed a household. You were no wilting handmaiden though, you’d been a warrior in your own right and made up the part of the household guard who stayed to defend those left behind. You’d travelled north for your brother’s wedding and spent a lovely fortnight with your family but you had been chafing something dreadful to return to that hall that was always full of laughter and warmth. Coccham <em>was</em> home now and, with any luck, your Lord and his men should have returned in time for Yule and a great fire would be raging in the hall.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You could see it on the opposite bank, smoke rising from the thatch and curling into the air. If you crossed the frozen river here, you would be there in a matter of minutes. If you took the bridge then it would be nightfall before you were safe and warm and surrounded once more by the jokes and the songs and stories you had missed.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The ice creaked and groaned beneath your feet but it held. You went slowly, knowing well how sometimes a weak patch would form around a bubble of air and you shifted your route whenever the ice in front of you looked unstable. It was slow going but each time you looked up the little pier was another few steps closer.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>A shout from the houses made you look up. Two dark figures were running down toward the bank, wrapped in heavy cloaks. Finan and Sihtric if the shouts were anything to go by. Those boys were going to be the death of you. There was always a moment of relief when they left and a sudden peace descended on Coccham but, for all you grumped and griped about their teasing and taunting and the dares that got out of hand...you missed them when they weren’t around.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You couldn’t quite hear them yet but you raised your free hand to wave and that was when it all went wrong. Your weight shifted, the ice groaned beneath you and your stomach plummeted as time seemed to slow.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The crack of the ice splitting seemed so loud in the cold, crisp air. It didn’t make any sense. You <em>knew</em> the river. You’d been <em>careful</em>. You’d <em>checked</em>. It must have echoed in the otherwise still silence of the midwinter morning because the last thing you saw was Sihtric, a few steps ahead of Finan, put on a sudden burst of speed, fumbling with the clasp on his cloak and letting it fall behind him where it fluttered like a banner in the wind before falling to the frosted grass.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Suddenly, solid ice gave way to freezing water and you fell. There was nothing else too it. You fell and the shock of the water and the thud of your back hitting the ice forced the air from your lungs and there was no time to shout. Only dark, freezing water closing around you.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You couldn’t see. You couldn’t hear. You were only faintly aware of sinking further and further, long past when you would have expected to hit the riverbed.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>A long, low creak sounded somewhere overhead, the sound rolling through the water like thunder through the clouds and then the undercurrent caught you and you were being pulled away.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Water swirled around your face and, instinctively, you flailed and tried to take a breath but something wrapped around your nose and mouth and your head swam and the pressure in your head and the burning in your lungs was too much. You tried, fighting against your heavy cloak, to tug at what had tangled around your face but instead of cloth or seaweed your cold fingers curled around a wrist bearing a thick armband of twisted metal.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You weren’t being pulled away. You were being pulled <em>up</em>.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The light burst around you as you were dragged onto the ice and you struggled, despite your limbs feeling as through they were weighed down with rocks, to pull at the hand covering your mouth but your hands were numb and shaking. Hot breath fanned across your cheek.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Shh, Y/N. You’re winded. I need you to calm down first.” <em>Sihtric</em>. “Please, Y/N.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Despite Midwinter quickly approaching, the air felt warm on your skin as Sihtric, water dripping from his hair, held you tight against his chest. You stilled, trying to fight down the urge to panic, and he lifted his hand from your mouth. The first breaths wouldn’t come. Instead you gasped helplessly, eyes screwed shut, your tears leaving hot trails on your cheeks. Sihtric held you. Muttered encouragements quietly into your ear. It could only have been moments but it felt like an eternity before you were finally able to draw a slow, shaky breath.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That’s it Y/N, that’s my girl. It’s alright now. We’ve got you.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You opened your eyes, blinking in the bright light, and found yourself with Sihtric wrapped around you and Finan staring down at you from where he was crouched on the pier, worry and relief at war in his eyes.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“If that was revenge for the thing with the paint then it was a shit joke.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Last year Finan, ostensibly helping to repair the hall, had tripped and fallen from the roof of the cattle byre and landed on a pot full of red paint and decided it would be a wonderful jest to let you find him like that.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It hurt too much to laugh and all you managed was a weak cough.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I..if I w-wanted revenge for th-that I’d have...f-f-finished the job then you b-bastard.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The lopsided grin on his face didn’t quite reach his eyes.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well if you can call me a bastard you must be fine. Here...give me your hands and lets get you inside.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Between the two of them, they managed to help you rise shakily to your feet and Finan hauled you up onto the pier before helping Sihtric up behind you and throwing his discarded cloak around both your shoulders. As the cold leeched into your bones, each step felt longer than the last but the pair of them acted as your crutches and eventually you reached the hall.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The fire in the heart was raging, casting flickering shadows onto the walls. Gisela looked up from her spinning and smiled before she saw the two warriors supporting you and then suddenly you were at the centre of a malestrom of activity. You were whirled off by Gisela and stripped of your sodden clothes before being wrapped tightly in heavy blankets and sat down in front of the fire. Sihtric was fending off similar treatment, protesting that he could look after himself and Finan hovered at the edge of the scene, arms folded across his chest and frowning. Slowly, as you stared into the fire, the scenes around you faded into the background.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There were perfectly good benches around the hearth but you sat on the floor and used them to hide from the tendrils of the cool breeze that managed to work it’s way through the tiny gaps in the walls. Sihtric came to you first, in a change of clothes and his hair drying into soft curls, and sunk down onto the floor beside you with two cups of warm spiced ale. You were reluctant to leave the cocoon of warm blankets but they were doing nothing to chase away the cold deep inside your bones and so you struggled to work your hands out whilst preserving some degree of modesty and accepted the cup with a grateful sigh.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You scared us.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I scared myself.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The bench behind you creaked as Finan sat down at your back. He said nothing and instead began teasing your wet hair out from beneath the blankets, twisting it almost absent-mindedly into a loose braid. It wasn’t often they were this quiet with you but there had been moments...just silly, fleeting moments really, when you had almost let yourself think they had sought you out on purpose. Lingering touches, a flash of concern whenever you were hurt, a sort of innate knowledge of how far they could push you before you snapped. No one said anything though and you’d ignored it and told yourself you were imagining the way Finan always managed to position himself somewhere he had to reach around and over you for something or the way Sihtric never failed to sit with his shoulder butted up against yours.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And you laughed. Oh how they made you laugh. They might drive you to madness and deserve every single threat of gelding or throttling you threw but they were, at their hearts, good men. And you loved them.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>Oh sweet merciful Christ</em>.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You <em>loved</em> them.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You lifted the cup of ale and took a long drink to hide the thoughts suddenly swirling inside your head. Gisela made the Yule ale herself - mixed it with a blend of spices only she knew - and more often that not it was strong enough to floor an ox before it was watered down a little for the great feast. You were only thinking that way because you’d almost died. It had nothing to do with Finan rubbing slow circles into the back of your neck or Sihtric’s hand resting on your knee.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You reached up to push a lose strand of hair from your face and the blankets slid from your shoulder and a full-body shiver hit you as the cooler air swirled around your exposed skin.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>They moved in unison. As Sihtric took the empty cup from your hands and pulled you into his side, Finan swept his heavy woolen cloak from the bench and, sinking down to sit at your other side, threw it over the three of you. As grateful as you were for the warmth, as the shivering began to subside you couldn’t help but glance around the hall.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“We look ridiculous.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Finan looped his arm around your shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to your temple.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Just as well there’s no one here to see it.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>His voice was low and deep, with an undercurrent that lit a fire in your stomach and warmed you in a way the fire could never manage. Sihtric must have heard it as well because the arm he’d wrapped around your waist tightened and his hand fisted in the blankets still tucked around you.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You turned your head toward Sihtric only to find his head tipped back, eyes closed, with Finan’s hand tangled in his hair.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was something so familiar in the gesture, like it was a thing they’d done a hundred times before, that left your heart stuttering in your chest. Sihtric cracked one eye open, smiling at you softly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“We’ve been thinking...”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Words most often uttered moments before disaster.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Finan coughed a small laugh into your hair.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Told you she’d say that.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You tried, half-heartedly, to elbow him in the ribs but between the blankets and the two men pressed against your sides you were trapped. No. Not trapped. <em>Held</em>.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Like you could do any better?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I will have you know that I am one of nature’s poets.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Then I pity nature.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You sighed deeply and sank down further into the warmth whilst they bickered. As the deep frost in your bones began to thaw, the aching fatigue started to set in and you could feel your eyes fluttering closed onto for Finan to shake you awake again.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh no you don’t. You hit your head pretty hard back there...we’re under orders to keep you awake until dusk.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You couldn’t help but groan. The days may have been short but after days of travelling and your accident you just wanted to sleep.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Then let me get dressed and do some work.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was a weak argument - you were too sore and stiff to be of any use to anyone and the thought of stepping back out into the icy cold sent a shiver of dread down your spine.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Hmm, something tells me you do not want to do that.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Then what else do you suggest?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh, Y/N...I’m that glad you asked.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>When Sihtric kissed you, it was soft and languid and full of the promise of <em>more.</em> One hand fisted in the blankets at your waist and the other cupping your cheek gently. Finan pressed his head into your shoulder, smiling softly against your skin as his free hand trailed along the line of the blanket at your back, ghosting over bare skin.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>When Finan kissed you, tipping your head back towards him with a finger under your chin, it burned all the way down and left you breathless. His hands drifted beneath the blankets, brushing across bare skin rising to gooseflesh but never quite pushing his luck. Only hovering at the edge of too far. Sihtric found your hand and laced your fingers together, palm to palm, and squeezed.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“We have you now, Y/N.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Finan hummed in agreement.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“We do at that...and we don’t intend to let you go.”</p>
</div>
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